Skyler sat there nursing her Brandy as she kept a look out for Jose Soto. It was already close to midnight and there was no sign of him. Was he going to show? Or stand her up? He couldn’t, Skyler saw the way he was looking at her, he wanted her. Her second night out and she might leave empty handed again.
Yesterday night she got a glimpse of him, he watched her from a distance and then as she approached he left, tonight he wasn’t going to leave. He got away, but he wasn’t getting away tonight.
Her body tensed up as she put her Brandy down, someone was watching her. She watched her drink as she started to move her glass in a circle before downing it and signaling the barmaid.
She felt eyes on her in all directions, usually she could always pin point it but not this time. She couldn’t look around, that would give her away.
Skyler started tapping her foot on her bar stool, tapping her fingers as the barmaid served her another drink.
“Don’t you think ones enough?”
She froze, please tell me its not the damn SEAL. Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone sit down.
“Odd seeing you here, I didn’t think you were the party type girl.” Noah signaled the barmaid.
“I’m not, I’m just out and about?” she picked up her drink and took a sip.
“Out and about, huh. Thank you.” he smiled back at the beautiful barmaid.
Skyler kept her attention on her drink that sat in front of her, what was Noah doing here? she thought.
“What brings a SEAL to this place? Wait, never mind, its where all military come when looking for a simple fuck,” her tone, that didn’t come out right, not how she wanted to have it come out.
Noah cleared his throat, “Actually I came here for business.”
“Business, what type of business?” It was Saturday night and he was here doing business? That didn’t sit right with her for some reason, he was here for something else.
“Classified,” he smiled at her.
Sklyer couldn’t help but take a peek at him, she liked his smile. So, he was here for business and it was classified? What could be classified? It doesn’t matter, she told herself. She was here with her own classified piece of business. And if Noah didn’t leave, she was sure he would ruin everything, maybe he already has, he was sitting next to her and having a conversation with her. Jose Soto could be watching them as they spoke.
“Hey, how about you get lost?” Skyler playfully said.
“Cody, who is Noah talking to?” Blake asked as he watched the video footage.
Cody stopped cleaning his Beretta and got up and walked over to Blake. He looked at the video footage that was playing, his cousin was having a conversation with a woman.
“I’m not sure sir, do you want me to go down there?” What was Noah doing? We were here to take and capture Jose Soto, we were on the look out for that woman him and Whitman saw the other night.
“No need, we’ll check her out right now. Whitman get me a camera that over looks the bar area and run a facial on the woman next to Noah.”
“Sir, its just a woman he’s talking to, nothing more. You know Noah.” Cody added.
“Have you forgot what we’re here for?” Blake questioned Cody.
“No, sir. I want this bastard just as much as you do.”
“Then lets do our job, I don’t care if he’s a cousin now, just as I don’t care that you’re my brother-in-law now. A job is a job, Cody, and right now his head is not in the game, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but he’s distanced himself over the past two days and I plan to find out why.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Whitman, do you have a facial yet?” Blake asked.
Blake noticed, why hadn’t he? Even Whitman noticed, he was the first one to point that out and yet he still hasn’t noticed. Really he hasn’t given Noah a thought the past two days, he’s been too distracted with Blake, plotting and finding every little detail they needed to catch Jose Soto, maybe if he wasn’t so focused on that he would have noticed? He should have noticed, Blake noticed, he noticed everything though.
Blake was in charge of everything and soon he would be too, he would have his own team to watch and take care of and here he was missing something so simple, he couldn’t make that mistake again.
“Whitman, I need that facial now.” Cody ordered.
He didn’t bother looking at Blake, he could feel his gaze on him.
“Cody, you’re not going to like this.” Whitman said in a shaky voice before glancing at Cody and Blake.
“What is it,” Cody and Blake said at the same time.
They looked at each other before looking at Whitman once more.
“Its that woman we followed home, the same one, I’m sure.”
Cody leaned down and looked at the picture and cursed, it was the same woman. This whole time she’s been talking to Noah and they didn’t even know it, Noah didn’t know it and if he didn’t stop he was going to fucking ruin the mission.
“Get Noah out of there now,” Cody demanded.
“No,” Blake ordered.
“Whitman, find what you can on that woman and why she has anything to do with this, Cody said he has a feeling that she is in on this.”
“Gut feeling sir,” Cody muttered.
“Get on it, Whitman. Cody, get over here and observed what I’ve been watching the past ten minutes.”
Cody followed Blake back to the video footage and stared as he watched his cousin talk to the woman, he’s never seen Noah smile like that.
“Watch and observe.” Blake ordered as he sat down in his chair.
Cody did watch, he observed Noah and couldn’t believe he didn’t notice earlier, the way his body language was, the way her looked at her, she had his undivided attention and she didn’t even know it. Why did it have to be her? Of all the woman he picked up, it had to be this one who made him start thinking about things.
“He’s going to ruin everything sir”.
“I say otherwise, we don’t know how things are going to go, Jose wants her, he’s going to want to watch her and observe before he makes his move, he’s going to follow her home again. This time Noah’s going to be with her.”
What? “Sir, I don’t see how that’s going to fucking work, he’ll see Noah as a challenge, he’ll stand clear of that woman.”
“I disagree, it will be a challenge, he’ll see that and want her even more.” Blake tried to reason, Cody wasn’t going to let this go, he could tell, not when it involved Noah.
“I know things are different now, we’re family but don’t fucking put him in the middle of this. What if something happens to him?” Cody yelled.
“He’s a fucking soldier Cody, this is his job, he’ll agree, look at him.” Blake stood up and pointed at the screen. “If he wanted just a fuck he would have had her ready to leave the damn club in under ten minutes, he’s giving that woman his full attention, his undivided attention, so many women have passed by him, trying to grab his attention and he didn’t give them a second look, this ones different, whether you see that or not. He’s fucking doing this and if I have to I’ll make it a damn fucking order. I’ll give you a damn order to stand down or do I have to go as far as taking you off this mission?”
“No, sir.” Cody muttered.
“Go cool off, that’s an order.”
“Yes, sir,” he muttered as he stocked over to the door and slammed it shut.
Blake heard Whitman clear his throat. “What do you have for me Whitman?”
“Get Cody in here, he needs to hear this too.”
“I say, if he needs to hear this too.”
“It somewhat involves Bailey sir.”
“Go on.” Blake ordered.
Whitman sighed and turned his attention back to the computer. Blake walked over to the screen and hovered as Whitman explained.
“Her name is Sklyer An Sommer, she served with Bailey in Afghanistan when Bailey did her last tour.”
“That was over a little year ago, what does that have anything to do with her? So they served together.”
“Sir, they were in the same platoon, under the same Commander.”
“Doesn’t mean anything.”
“She reported that she was assaulted, attempted rape is on her file.”
“Go on.”
“The report wasn’t filled when it should have been, she reported it before she left Afghanistan and then Bailey was raped.”
“What do you mean? Why did she leave?”
“She was assaulted, she got a call that her sister had passed so she came back to the United States, almost two weeks later Bailey was raped and that attack happened. The reason why it didn’t get filled, I have no clue but it was too late to do anything about it.”
“Go on,” Blake couldn’t believe what he was hearing, his sisters rape could have been prevented if they filled the repot when they should have.
“Skylers sister is Allison Grace Sommer, Jose Sotos last victim.”
“Ok, Cody was right, she’s made herself a target on purpose, everything makes sense now. What else do you have?” Blake asked.
“She’s not in anymore, she did one more tour there but it was brief before she got out and now she’s after Jose Soto.”
“This changes things. She’s going to get in the way of our mission, we have no choice but to bring her in this.” Blake sighed as he started to pace.
“Whitman, turn on Noah’s ear piece and inform him of what’s going on.”
Noah couldn’t believe what he was hearing at this very moment. Skyler was the woman they were looking for and this whole time he’s been talking to her and didn’t even realize that she fit the description he was given. Those honey colored eyes he loved looking at belong to a hurt woman, a woman full of rage, someone who was taking justice into their own hands, someone out for revenge.
He wouldn’t have never thought that she was that woman, she didn’t give off that vibe, it could be a front after all.
“Skyler why are you here?” he asked as he turned his full attention back on her.
“What-what do you mean?” Where was this coming from?
“Tell me why you’re here.”
“Why are you here? Why are you not alone Noah, I’ve seen your men watching us for the past ten minutes, why are they here if you are just out for business?” He was going to be the one to tell first, not her.
“Do we have ears listening?” he calmly asked.
Sklyer looked around, “No.”
“We’re after the same target, for different reasons though.”
Sklyer swallowed and tried to keep her face composed, “Soto is your target?”
“Yes, we’ve been tracking him and you’re a problem now.”
“Problem? How am I the fucking problem?”
Noah looked at the barmaid and then Sklyer, “Keep it down, don’t cause a scene.”
“My commander is willing to bring you in on the mission under his orders of course.”
“I have my own agenda and it does not include you or your SEAL team, so I decline.” Skyler slid off the bar stool.
Noah gripped her arm and pulled her close, “You don’t understand, you don’t get a choice. Either you accept and you’re in or he’ll take you out of the situation so you don’t get in the way. So if I were you I would think about it.” Noah released his grip and gave her a little shove.
Who the fuck was this guy? What happened to the sweet SEAL she was just talking to? Sklyer took one last glance at him before exiting the club and running right into a body.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
What was he talking about, she didn’t have a choice, she always had a choice and no one was going to take that away from her, not some SEAL or a fucking SEAL team. The nerve of that guy, Skyler sighed heavily as she got into her car.
Damn SEAL, thinks he can tell her what to do, over my dead body. Skyler turned on the radio as she pulled out of the parking lot. She was so angry she hadn’t even realized what she was listening to, this was the first time she heard a Taylor Swift song in a years time.
She raised her hand to change it and hesitated, she took deep breathes as she listened. She should leave it, this was ridiculous, no it wasn’t, she suddenly thought. This is normal, she told herself, wanting nothing to do with things that reminded her of her sister Allison.
Skyler sighed and gripped the steering wheel once more, she listened to the damn song and it was taking everything she had not to cry and change it.
After thirty minutes of driving she pulled into her drive way and got out. She checked her door knob and noticed the piece of hair was still in place, she took it off and opened her door slowly.
“Are you watching this? Look at her, I don’t know why so doesn’t want in, she’s making a mistake if she doesn’t joining.”
“I see her,” Noah was watching her every move. How can she not accept the offer? Sooner rather then later she’ll realize that she has no choice.
Noah took a glance at Cody, he looked so serious as you stared at Sklyer’s house. “What are you thinking about?”
Cody moved his gaze to Noah and looked at him, he noticed for the first time how relaxed he looked, his guard was down and he didn’t look so up tight as usual. Was this all due to the woman in the house, his cousin barely knew the woman, as far as he knew.
“When did you meet Skyler?” Cody asked him.
“I asked you a question first.” Noah pointed out as he looked away, turning his attention back on Skyler’s house.
“I don’t think you want to know what I was thinking,” he wouldn’t, Noah wouldn’t like him pointing out that he didn’t look up tight and a bad ass anymore, he looked more like a softy now, strange how he could just change like that. Who was this woman?
“Fair enough, I met her a few days ago. I was running on the beach and literally ran into her. I didn’t know who she was until tonight I swear.”
“I know you didn’t know, none of us knew. I just hope she realizes that we’re not going to go any and let her have her way, she doesn’t know what’s at stake, she’s too concerned about her revenge that she doesn’t realize his brother is a drug lord and the real mission.” They both sighed as they watched the lights turn off in the house.